The Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC)

Across the developed world, societies are responding to two major trends: the need for a labour force that is highly adaptive and creative, with higher levels of education and a greater reliance on social skills; and demographic changes, including new family structures, changing gender roles, a population aging with a strong socio-economic gradient, and growing diversity from migration. These interconnected trends have major implications for the socio-economic wellbeing of families and the intergenerational transmission of life chances, and present new challenges for policy-makers. We will investigate how individuals and families are responding to these challenges, as well as to shifting policy priorities and political constraints, examine their impact on well-being and the intergenerational transmission of life chances, and assess the implications for policy. Such broad research questions necessitate a multi-disciplinary team, and the highest quality data and skills in quantitative analysis to enable population-level causal inference which can inform policy and improve the public understanding of social change. The MiSoC team will involve economists, sociologists, demographers, social policy researchers, computer scientists and statisticians based in four departments of the University of Essex and one at the University of Bristol. The team of 11 investigators includes 7 women, and has a median age of 44, showing our commitment to gender equality, and in developing senior research leadership for the new generation. We are also committed to developing the next generation of social scientists: in addition to 4 named early career researchers, the Centre will have nine 2-year posts for post-doctoral researchers, two years of pre-doctoral level training posts, and six PhD studentships. MiSoC is hosted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, which was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2017 for its "authoritative social and economic research to inform the policies of governments for the improvement of people's lives", an award which recognises the success of MiSoC over at least two decades. The research is organised into four Strands, with 39 projects. Strand 1 is motivated by the need to understand the factors affecting the production of a wide range of skills in childhood and adolescence, how they are rewarded in the labour market, and how they can be enhanced to promote social mobility and cohesion. Strand 2 will improve our understanding of why families are changing, and the implications of these for economic and health inequalities. Strand 3 will explore intergenerational transmission and exchange in a diverse society, using new multigenerational and transnational data sources. Our programme of methodological work (in machine learning in social science; measurement; and new big data sources) in Strand 4 reflects that methodological excellence is crucial to high-quality research and providing robust evidence for policy; it will form one of the pillars of the training and capacity building activities we carry out for the UK social science community. The programme will make a major contribution to the ESRC's research priorities of productivity (which depends on the accumulation of skills amongst young adults); mental health; housing; and innovation in health and social care. It is critical to understanding social mobility and the social distribution of life chances, through the analysis of inter-generational transmission from parents to children within the family, the evolution of human and social capital over the life course, and the processes that generate and maintain social inequalities, and it also has considerable implications for governments and other policy actors, through the design of the welfare state.